Web cutting and notching device



y 1961 K. E. FRIESZ 2,992,581

WEB CUTTING AND NOTCHING DEVICE Filed Feb. I 28, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 g E An liigpia.

July 18, 1961 K. E. FRIESZ 2,992,581

WEB CUTTING AND NOTCHING DEVICE Filed Feb. 28, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 in I i F En .115 21] in F in July 18, 1961 K. E. FRIESZ WEB CUTTING AND NOTCHING DEVICE Filed Feb. 28, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 y 1961 K. E. FRIESZ 2,992,581

WEB CUTTING AND NOTCHING DEVICE Filed Feb. 28, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 .Flg' .10.

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United States Patent Ofiice 2,992,581 Patented July 18, 1961 2,992,581 WEB CUTTING AND NOTOHING DEVICE Kenneth E. Friesz, Dorchester, Mass., assign'or, by mesne assignments, to New Era Manufacturing Company, Hawthorne, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 28, 1955, Ser. No. 490,832 6 Claims. (Cl. 83-300) This invention relates to mechanism for severing a web into sections, usually of lesser width than the web, and at the same time as the web advances with. a continuous motion cutting away a portion of each section on the line intersecting one of the longitudinal or transverse edges or both.

Many business transactions are now recorded on pieces of light carboard as contrasted with paper and, either in the issuance or auditing, are handled by automatic machines which cooperate with coding perforations punched through the cardboard. For instance, many corporations new issue dividend checks in this form and magazines solicit subscriptions or the renewal of subscriptions enclosing a card suitably perforated to indicate the recipient and other pertinent data. In FIG. 1-11 I have illustrated, with a very sketchy indication of the delineated areas and letterpress appearing thereon, a receipt as issued by the United States Treasury in connection with tax payments made by an employer. The stock on which it is printed is about seven thousandths of an inch thick. For convenience I will call such a piece a ticket.

While the problem of facing up a number of tickets occurs even if automatic machinery is not to be used in handling them, it is of particular importance, when perforations are to be made therein or later utilized to initiate some recording operation, that the tickets be right side up and front face to, since the position of the coding perforations relative to the margins of the ticket controls the operation. This facing up may be facilitated by cutting away a portion of the ticket on a line intersecting one of the margins or, as in the example illustrated in FIG. l-a, intersecting two adjacent margins, the upper left-hand corner of the ticket shown being cut away. In a stack of these tickets if one were upside down or wrong end to it would project beyond the cut-away cor.- ners of the properly positioned tickets and be rejected either manually or automatically, as the case might be.

If we have a single ticket, as shown in FIG. l-a, obviously it is easy to cut oif the corner, but if we have a number of uncropped tickets joined end to end. forming a web, or in particular if a number of tickets are printed side by side on the web, being arranged in rank and file on the unsevered web, a severance line extended across one corner would extend into an adjacent ticket and mar the same.

As far as I am aware no arrangement has been made whereby a web of tickets as they issue, for example, from a printing press, can be cut into individual tickets and corner-cropped or otherwise provided with a marginal indentation by continuously acting rotary means of high-speed. Such cutting has been done by reciprocating punches with an intermittent movement, or on the tickets after they have been severed and piled up or collated as individual items.

The mechanism here shown may be organized as an auxiliaryto a printing press, but at any rate is adapted to receive a web as it is delivered from the printing press having printed thereon a multiplicity of tickets ranked their transverse edges, originally joined in the web, will not both be afiected by the corner cropping or similar operation.

My invention will be well understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a generally diagrammatic view, without disclosure of mechanical details, of the feeding and severing mechanisms as organized at the feeding out end of a web printing press which press might be of any desired form;

FIG. 1-a is an illustration of one of the tickets;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of the web as it comes from the press at the location II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates the portions of the web which are passing through the mechanism at the location III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 illustrates the portion of the web which is passing through the mechanism at the location IV of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a larger, but still essentially diagrammatic, illustration of the mechanisms operating on the portions of the webs either as shown in FIG. 3 or as shown in FIG. 4 in one position of the parts;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but illustrating the parts in another position of their movement;

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating in elevation, with some adjacent parts in section, a feed couple as utilized in the mechanism;

FIG. 8 is a similar view showing another feed couple;

FIG. 9 is a transverse section showing in elevation the knife-carrying member of the rolls of the couple which serve to crop the corners of the tickets;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged longitudinal section of the mechanism shown in FIG. 7 with parts broken away;

FIG. 11 is a view as seen from the right of FIG. 7, illustrating the means for separating at desired times the feeding rolls of that couple; and

FIG. 12 is a similar view showing the arrangement of parts for separating similarly the feeding rolls of a we ceeding couple.

The mechanism herein disclosed comprises essentially a succession of feed roll couples which for reasons which will appear may be divided into two groups, an upper group indicated by the letter a appended to the reference characters identifying the elements of the group, and intended to suggest the word above, and a generally similar, although specifically difierent lower group having corresponding pairs of rolls identified by the appended letter b forming a portion of the reference character and intended to suggest the word below. These various rolls are supported between a pair of side frames 1 and suitable means is provided for driving them. It is not practical on the scale of a patent drawing to illustrate realistically in sucha figure the appearance of all these mechanisms. The mounting of rolls in this manner is familiar to those skilled in the art as is the method of thereto longitudinally and also transversely. That is and so separate succeeding elements of each file that drivingthe same and however numerous and complicated the gear trains involved may be, it is not necessary to show them in detail. In FIGS. 1, 5, and 6 therefore I have merely shown the outlines of the various rolls a more or less diagrammatic indication of the knives or other cutters carried by certain of them and their relative positions. We might of FIG. 1 as a view of the machine with the nearer side frame removed, the outline of the further side frame f being illustrated and the various rolls as appearing in end elevation, but with the \gears or other mechanisms which would appear at the nearer side of the nearer side frame removed as well. In FIGS. 5 and 6 I have shown merely the outlines of the rolls and indicated their centers.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the mechanism is here shown as if it were organized at the feeding-out end of a printing press P which would extend at the left of the figure, and from which the printed web w advances over rolls 22 to the mechanisms which I will hereinafter more fully describe. For purposes of illustration I here consider that the web w, FIG. 2, is as wide as the height of three tickets, so that each rank of tickets across the width of the web may be considered as comprising a series which may be thought of as including the odd numbers of the rank, herein two numbered 1 and 3 and alternating tickets which are the even numbers of the rank only one, number 2,'being shown in this instance. The web advances to a slitter mechanism indicated by the leter S and which may be known or conventional form and which'divides the elements of the ranks so that the web now consists of three strips corresponding to the several files, and these strips are separated so that the files 1 and 3 are later carried through the mechanism at the point III in FIG. 1 and beyond the same in one path, while the alternating file or files, number 2 in the present instance, are diverted into a path remote therefrom, and beneath the same, the strip or file shown in FIG. 4 being operated on to submit succeeding tickets thereof and to crop the corners therefor at the lower level viewing FIG. 1, while the strips 1 and 3, without disturbing the transverse alignment of the ticket forms thereon are carried through the mechanism at the relatively elevated position shown in FIG. 1 to the point III and beyond, and the tickets severed one from another and corner-cropped to assume the appearance of FIG. 1-a are then delivered to the carrying-away belts 24 and 26 for the upper and lower series respectively, and may be stacked or otherwise treated in accordance with known processes of the art.

Herein the web w as it emerges from the slitter is carried downwardly and around the feed couple F-l-b.

The central strip or file 2 is led from this horizontally toward the right through the mechanisms there shown, while the two lateral strips 1 and 3 are carried upwardly again to the feed couple F-1-a from which they move toward the right through generally similar mechanisms. As a matter of practice the feed couples F-l-a and F-l-b are similar in construction to the feed couple F2-a which hereinafter be described'more in detail, but this is rather more for convenience and economy than otherwise, and other mechanisms which would simply carry the webs along while excluding lateral drift of the same could be used.

Referring now'to FIGS. 5 and 6, the general operation of the mechanisms acting on the several files will now be described. Since, so far as this operation goes, the distinction between the upper line of rolls and the lower line of rolls is not significant although the mechanical details necessarily vary I have omitted from the reference characters on these figures the differentiating sufl'ixes a and b indicating the upper and lower set of mechanisms respectively. The first elements succeeding the feed couple F-l are a pair of what I may term dividing rolls which I have indicated by the reference character D, as suggestive of that word dividing, which serves to separate the several tickets in the files, one from another. Herein the circumference of these rolls is twice a ticket length, andthe upper one is provided with two knives 28 at diametrical points which cooperate with hardened steel anvil members 30' in the lower roll. The

severed sections on leaving the knives are carried along off one corner of the trailing end or tail 2 of the ticket as it passes between them. These knives project a; few thousandths of an inch past the pitch line and cooperate'on ,4 with another in the manner of the blades of a pair of scissors.

The knives can be longer than the actual cut in the ticket, but since there are no adjacent files, the knives can extend beyond the longitudinal edges of the ticket. Means are also provided whereby a severed ticket severed by D is advanced beyond the following ticket, so that there is space between the tail of the leading ticket as it reaches cutting roll C and the head of the succeeding ticket into which the line of cut may extend without damaging the said succeeding ticket, this being a characteristic feature of the mechanism. T o achieve this the centers of the rolls C are spaced for a distance greater than the ticket length from the centers of the rolls D, the feed couple F-2 operating to carry a severed ticket between one and the other in a manner to be more fully described. The rolls C move at a greater surface speed than the rolls D so that after the knives of rolls D have severed the tail of one ticket from the head of a succeeding one and the first ticket has been advanced so that the rolls C take hold of the head of it, they draw it forward- 1y more rapidly than the ticket which follows it, thus opening out a gap between them, so that the head of the following ticket has not reached the bite of the rolls C when the cutting knives come around to crop the corner of the tail of the first ticket.

Thus in FIG. 5 the cutting knife 28 shown in the 3 oclock position has severed a ticket and the surface between the 3 and 6 oclock positions has advanced the head of the ticket which follows this line of severance for about half the ticket length, and in between the rolls F-2, which at this time are open and do not feed the tickets. The preceding ticket, however, has previously been advanced by these rolls'F-Z into cooperation with the faster moving rolls C so that it had been speeded up and had started to open out a gap between its tail t and the head h of the following ticket, this gap being shown at g in FIG. 6 just to the left of the couple C. In FIG. 5 the ticket of theseries whose end has been cropped by the knives of roll couple C which are now in the 12 oclock position, has been advanced at increased speed to the position t at the right of FIG. 5, while the head of the ticket now being fed by the rolls C advances to the position indicated between the rolls of feed couple F-3 which is open at this time. In FIG. 6 the gap g between t and h adjacent couple C has opened out further than at the point between E2 and C in FIG. 5 because the relatively rapidly moving feed couple C has operated on the ticket longer and opened out the full width of the gap before the cutting knives 32 and 34 come into opposition.

When the knife 28 in the 9 oclock position in FIG. 5 comes around to the 6 oclock position, it severs the ticket which the feed couple D has been advancing and the feed couple D loses control of the same, but at this time the feed couple F-2 is closed and continues the feed of this ticket at the same speed and advances the head of the ticket to the bite of the rolls C and it opens to let go of it when these more rapidly moving rolls C take hold, after the knives 32 and 34 thereon pass the six oclock position. As regards the preceding ticket, the full gap g has been opened before this takes place and the cutters 32 and 34 of couple C in passing the six oclock position crop off the corner of the tail t of that preceding ticket. As the knives of rolls C come around to the six oclock position and'are ready to cut the rolls C lose control of the ticket but before they do so the right-hand rolls F-3 moving at the same surface speed have closed from the open position of FIG. 5 and continue to advance-the ticket during the cropping and thereafter until it is delivered to the carrying-away belt 24 (or 26 as the case may be).

The circumference of rolls C may be somewhat greater than a ticket length since the head of the ticket advancing from the left cannot enter their bite in the wake of cutters 32 and 34 until it has moved across the widthof gap g. The length of the -ticket measured from that mit adjustments.

point around the rolls is such as to bring tail in proper relationship to the cutters.

I will now describe with reference to FIG. 7, a preferred construction of the feeding rolls F2a and the mechanism chosen for separating the elements of the couple and bringing them together again at proper times as just explained.

The couple comprises a lower roll 40 turning in bearings 42 on the side frames f and driven by a gear- 44 at one end thereof. This roll has a central portion 46 of relatively great diameter and of a Width slightly exceeding the width of the web. The circumference of this portion is one ticket length. The cooperating element 48 of the couple is in the form of a shell having at its ends cups 50 (see FIG. receiving the outer races of the ballbearings 52 which support the shell from a shaft 54 which, so far as the rotary movement goes may be considered a dead axle, and this shaft 54 is mounted in the frames 1 by eccentrically located bearings 56, which provide for opening and closing of the rolls of the couple in the manner previously described and by means of mechanism which will be referred to.

Mounted on the shell are treads 58 of the same diameter as the enlarged portion 46 and adapted to cooperate therewith, four of these being shown adapted to cooperate with the edges of the file forming strips 1 and 3 as shown. The treads 58 have a facing 60 (FIG. 10) of rubber or similar traction promoting material. A pair of gears 62 drives shell 48 from shaft 40.

As I have already stated, the rolls F1a and F-l-b may be like the rolls F-2-a just described except that they do not require the eccentric mounting of the dead axle 54 since these rolls F-l-a and F-1-b have their cooperating feeding surfaces in contact at all times during normal running. The eccentric bearings however may be retained to avoid multiplicity of parts and to per- Although the web at the point II has been severed into three strips, the location of the two central treads 58 symmetrically to the lines of severance permits rolls F-1b to feed the three strips as one and to advance the central strip 2 toward the lower dividing rolls D-b while the treads 58 of the upper feed rolls F-1-a will engage opposite edges of the strips 1 and 3 in the same manner as illustrated in FIG. 7, and advance them at the same speed while maintaining the spaced apart position which they assume at location HI when the strip 2 has been diverted from between them immediately to the right ofthe couple F1b viewing FIG. 1.

t The construction of the rolls F-3-a is identical with that of rolls F-Z-a as illustrated in FIG. 7.

Referring now to FIG. 8, I have there illustrated the construction of the rolls F-2-b which is so generally similar in principle so that of rolls F-2a that the same numerals increased by 100 are utilized for the corresponding. parts. The lower roll embodies the shaft 140 driven byjgear 144. Its enlarged tread 146, however, is of a width only slightly greater than that of the strip 2 as seen in the figure and the shell 148 which turns on dead axle 154 has two treads 158 only, which may also serve as the cups receiving the outer races of the ballbearings. The dead shaft 154 is mounted in the frames 7 by eccentric bearings as in the case of shaft 54.

In FIG. 11 I have shown the mechanism causing the separation and approximation of the rolls of couple F-Z-a. The shaft 54 outboard of its eccentric bearing 56, carries a lever arm 64 having a cam following projection 66 urged by a spring 68, FIG. 7, toward an edge cam 70 which in the present instance is aligned With and takes motion from the lower element of the roll pair D-a. Since one rotation of this roll takes place during the feeding of two ticket lengths, the cam has two rise portions 72 each one of which operates to control the movement of rolls F-2-a through one opening and closing cycle, and it will be seen that the rise is about one-sixth 0f the circumference corresponding to one-third of the length'of the ticket so that the rolls are separated as shown in FIG. 5 during about two-thirds of their revolution and closed during the remaining one-third. The mounting of the cam by means of the slots 74 and bolts 76 permits adjustment and proper timing of the movements of the rolls. The mechanism for operating rolls F-Z-b is exactly similar.

The mechanism for operating rolls F3-a and F-S-rb illustrated in FIG. 12 is very similar to that shown-in FIG. 11, but specifically different in drive. The lever arm 64 and its cam follower 66 are mounted on the shaft of the couple F-3 corresponding to shafts 54 and 154. of FIGS. 7 and 8 respectively and cooperate with a cam'70, which is aduplicate of that shown in FIG. 11, to provide for the use of identical parts so far as possible. Since, however, the couple F-3 is remote from the couple D the cam 70 in this instance is driven by a gear train 78 from the driven shaft of the lower element of the couple F-3 corresponding to the shaft 40 of FIG. 7.

Referring now to FIG. 9, I have there shown a preferred construction for the corner cropping couple C, specifically Ca. Herein this couple is mounted on a yoke or auxiliary frame 80, slidably mounted in the side frames F of the machine and capable of being shifted transversely by means of the adjusting wheel 82. Mounted in suitable bearings in this frame are the lower roll 84 driven through gear 65 and driving through the pair of gears 87 the upper roll 88. The lower roll 84 is provided with seats in which the longitudinally aligned knives 34 are mounted. The upper roll has treads 90 provided with traction promoting faces having the same pitch diameter as the lower roll. These treads are not completely annular but each has a gap in which is received one of the knives 32 which rolls in cooperation with an opposing knife 34 as the rolls 84 and 88 turn.

It will be noted that I have shown four pairs of these knives and, in the position of the parts shown, the first pair at the left and the third pair from the left are positioned to cut off the left-hand corners, viewing the figure, of the tickets 1 and 3 passing beneath them, while the second and fourth pairs from the left are idle the former being opposite the space between these tickets and the latter beyond the right-hand edge of ticket 3. If however, it were desired to crop the opposite corner of the tickets, the yoke can be adjusted toward the left and then the first and third pairs of knives, counting from the left, would be idle and the second and fourth would come into operation and crop the right-hand corners of the tickets 1 and 3 passing between the rolls in the position shown.

The construction of the rolls C-b may be essentially similar to that of rolls C-a. In this case there is a single centrally disposed series of tickets advancing through the mechanism and therefore two pairs of knives corresponding to the two left-hand pairs of knives in FIG. 9 would be provided and positioned properly to operate-on the centrally disposed web, and the shifting of the yoke would determine which pair of knives operated and which corner of the ticket would be cropped.

Modification of all these pairs of rolls to provide for handling webs of various widths and subdivided into various numbers of strips corresponding to the files of a rank and file arrangement will be obvious.

I am aware that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and I therefore desire the present embodiment to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, as is in fact clear in several matters from the description itself. Reference is to be had to the appended claims to indicate those principles of the invention exemplified by the particular embodiment described and which I desire to secure by Letters Patent.

I claim:

1. A machine of the class described for handling a continuous web comprising a rotary couple for fading the W 7 web having cutting means for severing from the'head of the web a section which has been advanced through the .couple, a second rotary couple spaced from the first more than the length of said section, said second rotary couple having incompletely annular gripping surfaces, and cutters arranged in the gaps of the annuli for cropping the tail of a section advanced through the couple by the gripping surfaces, said second couple having a greater surface speed than the first couple, a pair of feed rolls between the couples having the same surface speed as the first couple, and means for separating and approximating the rolls governed to' close them on the head of a section being forwarded by the first couple and to continue its feed to the bite of the second couple after it has been severed and to open when the head of the section is delivered to the surfaces of the second couple in the wake of the cutters thereon and feeding-out rolls beyond the secondcouple operating at the same surface speed as the second couple to continue the feed of a section after the gripping surfaces have passed off the same.

2. A machine of the class described for handling a continuous web comprising a rotary couple for feeding the web having cutting means for severing from the head of the 'web a section which has been advanced through the couple, a second rotary couple spaced from the first more than the length of said section, said second rotary couple having incompletely annular gripping surfaces, and cutters arranged in the gaps of the annuli for cropping the tail of a section advanced through the couple by the gripping surfaces, said second couple having a greater surface speed than the first couple, a pair of feed rolls between the couples having the same surface speed as the first couple, and means for separating and approximating the rolls governed to close them on the head of a section being forwarded by the first couple and to continue its feed to the bite of the second couple after it has been severed and to open when the head of the section is delivered to the surfaces of the second couple in the wake of the cutters thereon, a pair of feeding-out rolls beyond the second couple and means for separating and approximating the rolls governed to close them on the head of a section being forwarded between them by said gripping surface and to continue the feed thereof at the same speed after the section has passed said surfaces.

3 A machine of the class described for handling a continuously moving web comprising a roll couple receiving the web and provided with cutters for severing rectangular sections from the head of the web, a second roll couple having a greater surface speed spaced from thefirst a distance greater then the length of the severed section, means for transferring the severed section to said second roll couple to be drawn away from the following section, said second couple having cutters to operate on the trailing edge of the section so drawn away and feeding-out means for continuing the advance of the said section when said cutters operate said couples and transferring means being disposed at successive points along a straight ahead path for the web material.

4. A machine for handling a continuously moving web comprising a rotary cutter for severing rectangular sections from the head of the web, continuously rotating feeding means for continuing the movement of the severed section and accelerating the same so that a gap is opened between its trailing end and the following portion of the web and a rotary cutter positioned adjacent the path of movement and timed to operate on the trailing end of the section after said gap has been opened, said cutters and feeding means being disposed at successive points along a straight ahead path for the web material.

5. A machine of the class described comprising means for continuously advancing a web, a rotary cutterfor severing rectangular sections from the head of the web, means receiving the leading end of the severedsection and having a surface speed greater than the previous Speed of the web whereby to draw forward the trailing end of the section, away from the following portion of the web and a rotary cutter adjacent the path of movement and operating to sever a portion of the soadvanced section along a line intersecting a transverse edge of the section, said cutters and receiving means beingdisposed at successive points along a straight ahead path for the web material.

6. A machine of the class described comprising means for continuously advancing a web, a rotary cutter for severing rectangular sections from the head of the web, means receiving the leading end of the severed section and having a surface speed greater than the previous speed of the web whereby to draw forward the trailing end of the section away from the following portion of the web and a rotary cutter adjacent the path of movement and operating to sever a portion of one of two adjacent sections thus spaced along a line intersecting one of the so spaced edges, said cutters and receiving means being disposed at successive points along a straight ahead path for the web material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Coste .Mar. 27, 1956 

